Article of wearing apparel



Aug. 24, 1937. H. MARGULIUS 2,091,122

ARTICLE OF WEARING APPAREL Filed Jan. 17, 1935 Patented Aug. 24, 1937 UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application January 17, 1935, Serial No. 2,188 In Germany January 8, 1934 1 Claim.

n and doffed quickly and easily.

To provide a dress having the above characteristics which also fits well, is neat and in no way clumsy.

It is admitted that many forms of garments opening completely up the front and having the front pieces adapted to overlap one another have hitherto been suggested. These have primarily been garments designed especially for (a) Maternity use.

(1)) So as to be capable of fitting figures of various waist and bust measurements.

These garments have, however, been of the kind fitting closely around the neck of the wearer and generally having a neck band or collar. In

none of these garments has provision been made,

other than the overlapping and belt or like fastening means, to insure that the garment would not open at the position of overlapping of the parts of the dress and to try and insure that these dresses would not eventually open a very large overlap indeed was provided. This overlap, generally at the foot of the garment, extended approximately half way round the circumference of the hem of the garment when the latter was in its normal closed condition.

Such a terrific width of overlap tends to make the garment heavy and clumsy and, in addition, expensive and quite unsuitable for garments as at present worn by ladies under ordinary circumstances.

In garments of the known overlapping kind above referred to, it has also been proposed to provide laterally expansible vertical pleats which extend upwardly between the upper and lower parts of the garment but such pleats were closed both at the upper and lower ends and the expansibility was only permitted round about the waist line to provide for local expansion of the dress.

Furthermore, the pleats were not freely expansible at all times but were normally confined by suitable stitching which could later be removed when the necessity arose.

On the contrary, the present invention, having the objects outlined above in view, provides a dress slit completely up the front and which is laterally extended on each side of the slit so that the front parts of the garment overlap one another to a considerable degree. Nevertheless, this overlapping is not normally such as to ex- 5 tend half way around the garment. The overlapping takes place merely along a vertical strip up the front of the garment approximately one third of the total width of the latter.

Means are provided for fastening, in a simple manner, the garment around the neck or shoulders of the wearer and, in addition, an external belt is provided to confine the garment around the waist of the wearer. Preferably, also, an inner belt, separate and distinct from the outer belt, is provided above the waist line and above the outer belt. This causes the garment to fit closely and snugly around the bust of the wearer.

A very important feature of a dress according to this invention is the provision of vertical free ly expansible pleats, extending from the hem of the garment more or less vertically upwards and preferably extending above the waist line of the garment. These pleats are freely expansible laterally at their lower ends and throughout their length and are of such size or dimensions as to permit the wearer free movement in the dress without the overlapping parts being appreciably disturbed and therefore without the dress opening along the slit front. The pleats, additionally in practice, enable the dress to remain closed in spite of heavy winds, et cetera.

Preferably the dress includes a yoke and the said substantially vertical pleats extend from the hem of the garment up to the lower end of the yoke and the upper part of the dress is fastened by buttons, press studs, or other suitable means, localized on this yoke to one side of the vertical centre line of the front of the dress.

Naturally the dress may be made of any suitable material, such as satin, cretonne, fabrics having printed or woven designs, linen materials and the like.

The usual revers, pleats, pockets and so on may also be provided.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood and more readily carried into practice, I have appended hereto a drawing in which two embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example and in which:

Figure 1 shows one form of wrap-over garment according to the invention, in the opened condition,

Figure 2 shows the same garment in the closed condition.

Referring first to the embodiment shown in Figures 1 and 2, the garment consists of the actual gown l which is slitted down its whole length on the front side. Suitably the garment is made with continuous pleats 2, 3 on the front side and a double yoke or revers or bodice part 4, 5. The sleeves and the neck may be of any form and may be adapted to the prevailing fashion.

Pockets 6, l of any preferred form may be provided at desired places and may be arranged to correspond with the pleats and the slit in the garment.

In order that the garment may be done up I provide a belt 8 passing around the garment at waist or bodice height. This belt can be attached at the middle of the back part. Also it may be made in one or two parts as desired. An inner belt 9 is preferably disposed at a somewhat higher level than the outer belt 8 so as to insure that the garment fits well at the waist.

The wrap-over dress according to the present invention can be varied in many ways, for example as to the choice of fabric, the fashion in which it is cut, and the arrangement of pleats, pockets, revers and so on, within the scope of the appended claim. Also the garment can be made with half-length sleeves, full-length sleeves, or without any sleeves at all.

i In addition to the belts used for doing the garment up, other fastening means, for instance press-studs or the like, may if desired be provided at the slit in the front of the garment.

What I claim is:-

A ladys wrap-over dress comprising a skirt and a bodice portion having a neck opening, said dress divided at the front by a continuous slit extending from top to bottom throughout the entire length of the garment so as to divide the front into two portions, and having'one of the front portions adapted to overlap the other by aconsiderable distance at the front of the dress,

fastening means at the neck part only of the dress and adapted to enable the dress to be fas tened around the neck of a wearer of the dress, a long, laterally freely expansible pleat in each of said front portions of the dress, these pleats being spaced parallel to and inwardly from the upwardly extending edges of said portions and extending upwardly from the bottom of the dress and terminating at the bodice portion, an outer belt adapted to fasten about the wearer at the waistline of the dress and adapted to maintain the said front portions of the dress in overlapping relation and with the slit closed, an inner belt entirely separate from the outer belt dis-' posed near the waist of the dress, and fastening means for said inner belt disposed within the dress.

HERMANN MARGULIUS. 

